Month: November 2017

“He has a ton of experience,” Belichick said. “He does a great job of making adjustments at the line of scrimmage, whether it’s changing protections or he sees a certain coverage, he can get into a play that can attack that coverage. He’s had a number of checks like that … and it ends up being a big play. Being able to disguise our coverages, not telling him what we’re in, that’s really suicide [if you don’t] because he’ll chew that up.”

Belichick added: “I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a big, strong guy, too. A lot of people can be hanging on him, draped all over him, and he’s still strong enough to stand in there and throw the ball, and throw it accurately.”

“They more and more are getting satisfied by the alternatives of highlights and scores that are available during the game,” Lazarus said. “That continues to train young viewers to follow our sports, not watch our sports. That is concerning for all sports television.”

Ratings are still down despite the small rise seen in Week 7. NBC Sports is off 21 percent from 2015, CBS Sports is down 14 percent compared to 2015, and ESPN’s Monday Night Football has sunk 17 percent over 2015.

Still, despite the NFL’s ratings pain, sports is still a TV leader compared to episodic series TV and sitcoms.

This will be a major challenge for rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson Jersey and the Texans. He’s been really good, but playing the Seahawks on the road is a challenge even for veteran passers. The Seahawks seem to be getting it right. They handle Watson and the Texans.

The Redskins are playing on a short week, but the Cowboys are playing consecutive road games. Dallas Cowboys looked like the Dallas we expected to see against the 49ers. The Redskins have offensive line injury issues. The Cowboys will get after Kirk Cousins. Dallas wins it.

Charlie McCoy scored in the 11th round of the shootout to lift the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

Hanzal has one goal and two assists in 17 games this season.

“I feel for Marty,” Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock told NHL.com. “This is the third or fourth time just as he gets up to speed and starts to really look good, (and) there is an injury. You feel for a guy like that. He wants to do well and it just seems that in the game he has the most impact, he gets hurt.”

The Stars moved to 11-9-1 on the year after Tuesday’s win but are 3-7-1 on the road.

Hitchcock said he believes his team will get better from its middling start.

“I see a team forging an identity,” Hitchcock told the Dallas News. “It’s a process. I’m really enjoying the process, because I’m seeing a team emerge. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be very challenging, and we’ve got a long way to go.”

Giants coach Ben McAdoo on the loss to the previously winless 49ers: “The thing that was disappointing that showed up on film is the desire to finish on a consistent basis. There were plays we were capable of making and the desire to finish wasn’t consistent… We’re disappointed, but determined. We’re all in this thing together as coaches, as players, and I’m not here to throw anyone under the bus today, whether it’s a coach, whether it’s a player.”

Falcons defensive end Adrian Clayborn on his six sacks in Sunday’s 27-7 win over the Cowboys: “I’m no Everson Griffen or somebody like that, my pass rush isn’t as good as (his). But I play the same way every game. It lucked out for me today. I only have one move and it works.”

Danny Green followed that by hitting consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 90-79 with 3 minutes remaining.

Reserve forward John Collins led Atlanta with 21 points and Taurean Prince added 18. Former Spurs center Dewayne Dedmon had 11 points, including nine in the opening quarter.

The Seahawks have snuck up on us. The same way big-box retailers have low-key rolled out their Christmas decorations. And by low-key, I mean hitting you right in the chest like Doug Baldwin pushing his offensive line coach. But in all seriousness, the Seahawks were kind of discarded about a month ago. There were whispers the window had closed. Well, that window is wide open, there is a pie on the sill and a pumpkin-spiced coffee beverage made with milk and espresso right next to it.

But how? Well, the offense has become much more efficient. The O-line has improved — it’s currently a top-10 unit, according to Pro Football Focus. Consequently, Seattle has averaged more than four touchdowns (28.7 points) over the last three games, all of which they have won. And yes, I guess you could say they have averaged a little more than nine field goals. Or two touchdowns and five field goals. Whatever — they are scoring more points. Which seems important in the NFL.

The Miami Dolphins won’t have their starting quarterback, Jay Cutler Jersey, when they face the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, but even still, the Dolphins will enter the game as the healthier of the two teams. That’s because the Ravens are facing the possibility of being without more than 10 of their most important players.

As a kid, however, football was just one among a long list of sports Goedert notched in dot-on-the-map Britton. NFL scouts who prefer multi-sport athletes over specialization will marvel at Goedert’s background of activities, a list as diverse as it is long: football, wakeboarding, track, ice skating, basketball, kayaking, soccer, swimming, softball, downhill skiing, wrestling, and … unicycling.

Goedert’s grandfather, Gordon Phillips, taught his five daughters to ride a unicycle and perform in local parades. Dallas eventually learned as well, but it took some nudging.

Colin Kaepernick’s attorney watched recently as the Texans scoured the market for available quarterbacks in the wake of Deshaun Watson’s season-ending injury.

Attorney Mark Geragos thought that A) Given the lack of talented QBs available and B) Given Texans owner Bob McNair’s recent controversial remarks (“We can’t let the inmates run the prison”) that infuriated many Houston players, the team might be open to signing Kaepernick.

“I just don’t understand the Texans,” Geragos said. “If I’m Bob McNair, and maybe I’m addled and maybe I’m sick, I just don’t know. I mean, I’ll find out when I do his deposition. But if I’m Bob McNair and I’ve already misspoke and my players want to come and beat the crap out of me, I think that somebody should be whispering in my ear, ‘Sign Kap, sign Kap.’ Because that can redeem you, I would think, just from a public relations standpoint.”

Legal analysts have said they believe Kaepernick’s legal team will have a hard time proving NFL team owners have colluded to keep the quarterback out of the league.

The least enticing contest sees the 49ers host the Giants in a game featuring two teams with one win between them.

The Rams boast the second-best scoring offense in the league and now get a Texans team quarterbacked by Tom Savage. Los Angeles’ defense is seventh in the NFL in takeaways. Putting this team against Savage as well as Houston’s 21st-ranked pass defense is a recipe for a blowout.

Dallas will be without Elliott on Sunday after his six-game suspension finally stuck. The Cowboys should still be favorites against the Falcons, though, and with Atlanta allowing 114.5 rush yards per game, it will be no surprise if Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden, Rod Smith and even Dak Prescott are able to engineer success on the ground.

Based on her three-year career average of 24.5 PPG, Mitchell needs 40 games — that means a Final Four run — to pass Plum, according to Riley Foreman of ESPN Stats & Info. Mitchell’s best single-season scoring total was 889 (26.1 PPG) as a sophomore. Even if she averaged that this season, she’d need 38 games to pass Plum.

But Mitchell and the Buckeyes might be most successful if she doesn’t have to carry quite that heavy a load. McGuff said Mitchell benefited from playing with USA Basketball this offseason — for the U23 team at the Four Nations tournament in Japan and at the senior national team training camp in California.

For years, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen has been known as one of the most creative minds in football. This year, he has handed the play-calling reins over to his protégé Jake Spavital, and it has worked well: The Mountaineers sit fifth in the nation in total offense at 539 yards per game, after finishing 17th last year. This week Holgorsen faces one of his old bosses, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, in a reunion game of sorts.

I keep coming back to Ingles, who has had a very strong start to the season, aside from the Clippers game when he was sick. In 30-plus minutes per game, we can expect double-digit scoring with a few assists and/or steals. He already has five multi-steal games and a 2.2 steals/game average. The icing on the cake is that he matches up with a Mavericks team that currently ranks dead last in rebounding rate, potentially enhancing his production under the hoop.

After a sluggish start to the season, Jokic has recorded three double-doubles in a row, scoring at least 18 points in each of the last four games. He has a prime opportunity to put up a big game against Enes Kanter and the Knicks, who currently rank in the middle of the pack defensively, though in all honesty are probably more of a lower-end defense. Given Jokic’s affordable salary, he’s a strong value on Monday.

Did we think it was gone? The fans behind home plate don’t react. Lindor pauses to admire his shot. The pitcher turns to watch it. The Yankees relievers hop up on a bench to try to see at the 19-second mark.

The announcer didn’t buy it for a second.

At the moment of contact he’s reaching for it and looks almost to be swinging with one hand. He’s not Aaron Judge, but a 5-foot-11 shortstop who hit 21 total home runs across parts of five minor league seasons. And the ball he hit went all of 349 feet to the power alley, according to Statcast.

The Dolphins traded Ajayi because they believe that his most productive games are behind him, fearing that knee issues stemming from a significant 2011 surgery are finally catching up to him, team sources told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington.

“I’m not concerned about any reports other than the ones given to us,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said when asked about Ajayi’s knee issues, saying the team was comfortable in making the trade based on the results of the running back’s physical.

There was no conflict or controversy that led to Ajayi’s trade, sources told Darlington, but Ajayi did express some frustration about his lack of touches in the red zone.

Ajayi reacted to the trade in an Instagram post Tuesday morning. Even that suggestion from Emmert, ultimately determined by the NBA Players Association and NBA owners, met resistance Monday from Knight Commission panelist David Robinson. Robinson, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame selected to serve on the Commission on College Basketball, spoke passionately about the need for young athletes to spend time on college campuses.

Beal was fined $50,000 for initiating the incident. Kelly Oubre Jr. was fined $15,000 for aggressively entering the altercation. Markieff Morris, who is recovering from hernia surgery and was inactive for the game, and Carrick Felix were suspended one game each for leaving the bench.

On Saturday night, asked about calling plays before they happen: “That’s a tough question to answer. I don’t think I do it that often. I know the viral sensation of the world we live in, with social media everywhere. But I only do it maybe three times a game. I’m just trying to think along with the game, to say what I see. It comes down to years of experience, knowing the defense as well as the offense. It’s been natural for me to feel what the quarterback is thinking and feeling at the moment.

Mitchell also scored 28 points Sunday, and this should be the crowning season of her stellar career. The Cincinnati native enters the season with 2,553 points — 974 points shy of the NCAA Division I record of 3,527 set last year by Washington’s Kelsey Plum.

“The kid is so mature sometimes you want to check his birth certificate to check to see if he’s not really 25,” says Wisconsin running backs coach John Settle, a former NFL running back who has coached on four pro staffs and worked with backs ranging from Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams to Willis McGahee. When Taylor does bag drills, his position coach can’t even hear the 5′ 11″, 215-pounder’s feet touch the ground. “I’ve never seen a back like that,” Settle says.

Speaking of Wisconsin, as outstanding as the Badgers’ D has been (sixth in the nation in yards per game), imagine how much better it’d probably be if it hadn’t lost team captain Jack Cichy, one of the country’s top linebackers, to a torn ACL in August.

A source informed of the situation told NFL Network’s Michael Silver that Hopkins will not be fined for taking a “personal” day on Friday.

“The Seahawks played a great game,” Hopkins told reporters when asked about his absence Friday.

When asked about McNair’s comments, Hopkins said: “The Seahawks, they played a good game. They beat us. I play football for a living.”

The NFL emerged from the Fall League Meeting with no mandate to force players to stand for the national anthem. Owners and players reached a consensus to support programs which address and combat social inequality.

NFL owners and players are scheduled to meet again Tuesday to discuss how the two sides can work together to make further progress on social issues.

Now in Week 8 of the 2017 season, protests are again in the spotlight with all eyes on the Texans’ game against the Seattle Seahawks at 4:05 p.m. ET.

In a meeting of owners, not including players, McNair told the group that they “can’t have the inmates running the prison,” according to an in-depth article by ESPN. He quickly apologized for the comment, and then adjusted his apology to say that he was referring to the rift between the league office and owners, but the damage was done.

Many Texans players were insulted by the expression, including wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and running back D’Onta Foreman, who both chose not to attend practice Friday. Offensive tackle Duane Brown was vocal about how offended he was by McNair’s words.

While the entire team made the trip to Seattle, and McNair tried to smooth things over with a meeting Saturday, the Texans will be in the spotlight Sunday afternoon when the national anthem plays.

Count Matt Forte among those perplexed by the play-calling of Jets offensive coordinator John Morton during the team’s 25-20 loss to the Falcons on Sunday.

The Jets, though, haven’t been particularly effective running the ball. They gained just 42 yards on the ground against the Falcons, and their running backs have gained only 186 yards on 60 carries (3.1 ypc) during the team’s current three-game losing streak.

Nevertheless, Forte believes the Jets should have stuck with their plan.

“We are open to doing a deal whenever the best offer presents itself,” McDonough said in a text message to AZCentral.com. “Any other comments or thoughts from me would be pure speculation at this point.”

McDonough said last week that he has received multiple inquiries about Bledsoe but stressed that he would not complete a trade until “the best offer presents itself.” The Suns could decide to wait until after Dec. 15, when free agents from this past offseason become eligible to be traded.

The New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks are among the teams reportedly interested in Bledsoe, who was sent home by the Suns on Oct. 23 after tweeting, “I don’t wanna be here,” a day earlier. McDonough announced at the time that Bledsoe “won’t be with us going forward,” and said he didn’t believe Bledsoe’s explanation that he was tweeting about wanting to leave a hair salon.

Bledsoe previously had met with Suns owner Robert Sarver and McDonough during the preseason and requested a trade, sources told ESPN. Bledsoe was told by management, according to sources, that the team had underperformed ever since he was given starting point guard responsibilities.

Most importantly, while there’s some palpable excitement in Lakerland, Thursday was a reminder that this project is going to take a while. The Lakers are a team in transition, and their roster could look completely different by next October. It’s hard to be patient with a No. 2 pick as flashy as Ball, but the Chateau Marmont wasn’t built in a day. (Heck, it took Shaq and Kobe four years to win a title together.)

Ball’s potential isn’t any lower because of an uneventful opening night. The Lakers, however, have a long way to go before it’s fair to consistently expect much more than what they showed Thursday night.

Yu Darvish says he didn’t think it was necessary to meet with Yuli Gurriel after the Astros first baseman’s racially insensitive gesture toward the Dodgers pitcher.
After hitting a home run off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish in Game 3 in Houston, cameras caught Gurriel using his fingers to slant his eyes in a gesture that is considered offensive to people of Asian descent; Darvish is of Japanese and Iranian descent.

Gurriel later issued an apology. MLB suspended him five regular-season games without pay, beginning next year, and it will cost him about $320,000.

During pregame introductions, the first since the World Series shifted from Minute Maid Park to Dodger Stadium, the boos were noticeably louder for Gurriel than for any other Astros player.

Sheldon Richardson shed the oft-frustrating Xavier Su’a-Filo and made a relatively easy play in the backfield, stopping the Texans after 2 yards, at which point Houston punted..